It is exercised by those who see all the strengths and weaknesses of their own natures and then comprehend them in an artistic plan until everything appears as art and reason and even weakness delights the eye.”

Indeed, the picture that the world had of Mr. Mandela was as an almost saintly figure, the faultless “father of the nation.” Images of the heartfelt prayer gatherings and candlelight vigils in recent months as South Africans came to terms with his death have reinforced that view.

But Mr. Mandela was a politician, among the most transformative of his era, but still a politician. As such, he went through the usual ups and downs that characterize any political career.

“Nelson Mandela was not a saint. We would dishonor his memory if we treated him as if he was one,” Pierre de Vos, a law professor, wrote on Friday in The Daily Maverick, an online magazine in South Africa, arguing that Mr. Mandela’s genius lay in his willingness to bend and compromise. “Like all truly exceptional human beings, he was a person of flesh and blood, with his own idiosyncrasies, his own blind spots and weaknesses.”

I'll give you one thing, WiO, you have not claimed that I said the "N" word like Bob and Allen. That's all it would take for you to get in the cooler permanently with them, but we all know you hold liars in such contempt (unless they're on your side), you'd never do that. No.

“The Dresden atrocity, tremendously expensive and meticulously planned, was so meaningless, finally, that only one person on the entire planet got any benefit from it. I am that person. I wrote this book, which earned a lot of money for me and made my reputation, such as it is. One way or another, I got two or three dollars for every person killed. Some business I'm in.”

“History is always written by the winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated, and the winner writes the history books--books which glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe.

Just the other day, I was in my neighborhood Starbucks, waiting for the post office to open. I was enjoying a chocolatey cafe mocha when it occurred to me that to drink a mocha is to gulp down the entire history of the New World.

From the Spanish exportation of Aztec cacao, and the Dutch invention of the chemical process for making cocoa, on down to the capitalist empire of Hershey, PA, and the lifestyle marketing of Seattle's Starbucks,

the modern mocha is a bittersweet concoction of imperialism,genocide, invention, and consumerism served with whipped cream on top.

Israel is the only country where the cops have to bribe the citizenry:

JERUSALEM -- U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry, concluding his latest effort to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace talks on Friday, sounding encouraged about progress despite ongoing tension between the parties.

“We are closer than we have been in years" to bringing peace to the region, Kerry told the press Friday morning before departing Israel for Washington.

After arriving in Israel on Wednesday night, Kerry met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu three times and once with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

He said he was encouraged by the "continued commitment of both leaders," and advised observers to be patient. “The fact that there is no information doesn't mean the talks are not productive," Kerry said, reminding that the parties agreed to refrain from publicly discussing the negotiations.

Despite sharp disagreements, Kerry insisted both leaders have the “same endpoint in their sights: two nations for two peoples, living side by side in peace and prosperity."

However, “neither peace nor prosperity are possible without security" Kerry said, touching the key focus of the talks.

Leaks from the negotiations that resumed in July suggest the process has become deadlocked, with Israel insisting that security arrangements in the West Bank -- in the Jordan Valley in particular -- be finalized before beginning discussions on any future border outline.Israel contends that maintaining a physical military presence along the Jordan Valley is critical for securing the eastern border, controlling future border crossings and defending its airspace. The Palestinians reject this as a ploy to perpetuate the occupation.

{HERE IS THE GOOD PART}

In an effort to break the cycle, the U.S. has offered a package of security proposals, presented to Netanyahu by retired Gen. John Allen, special envoy for related security matters.

No official details were offered, but Israeli press reports suggested they include military equipment, early warning stations and various guarantees. Reportedly, the Palestinians flatly reject any Israeli military presence in the West Bank but might consider NATO or international forces.

Until the savages stop glorifying suicide bombers, jihad and murder of Jews as "rite of passage"? There will be no peace.

And sad for you? The Jews will not go quietly into the night. remember 1/2 of Israel are Jews driven out of the homes by arabs. They are the Jews of Israel that say: "Don't trust the arabs, they will rape your daughters, slit your throat and loot your property"

They should KNOW, 800,000 of them were driven from communities in the now occupied arab world, in some cases dating back 1000 years before arabs ever CRAWLED out of arabia in 640 CE

"disputed" "occupied" take your pick because it is irrelevant to the point of international peacekeepers. The point is that Israel has consistently rejected the use of international peacekeepers in those regions.

AshFri Dec 06, 04:56:00 PM EST"disputed" "occupied" take your pick because it is irrelevant to the point of international peacekeepers. The point is that Israel has consistently rejected the use of international peacekeepers in those regions.

So EXCUSE ME (in my best Steve martin impression) if Jews just don't TRUST the UN to protect Jews.

After all the fucking UN has DONE such a GREAT job of protecting Israel in Lebanon, the Sinai, Gaza, Iraq and Iran.

How about this idea.

The complete and total surrender of all arab peoples who are at war with Israel, just like the Japanese and Germans did at the end of WW2?

Israel can then occupy all lands, establish government for the arabs to have, arrest, try and incarcerate all war criminals, execute them. and give Israel 80 years to straighten them out, just like the USA did to Japan and Germany.

Leaks from the negotiations that resumed in July suggest the process has become deadlocked, with Israel insisting that security arrangements in the West Bank -- in the Jordan Valley in particular -- be finalized before beginning discussions on any future border outline.Israel contends that maintaining a physical military presence along the Jordan Valley is critical for securing the eastern border, controlling future border crossings and defending its airspace. The Palestinians reject this as a ploy to perpetuate the occupation.

:)

Let's hope Kerry has better luck with Iran than with these so-called peace talks.

I suppose if Allen is willing to sink so low as to claim service in the Corps when he never came near it, it's not a big stretch for him to claim I said the N word. But there's a search function on this blog. Have at it.

Weeelllll, actually, Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken in many parts of the world. It developed as a fusion of different German dialects with adstrats of Hebrew, Aramaic and Slavic vocabulary and some traces of vocabulary from the Romance languages.[2][3] Yiddish orthography uses the Hebrew alphabet.

Is calling someone a "yid" really a racial slur? This is, actually, kind of a serious question. It may be impolite, or crude; but it doesn't "feel" to me as if it rises to the level of the "n" word, or any of its derivatives. Am I way out of line on this one?

Rufus IIFri Dec 06, 05:27:00 PM ESTIs calling someone a "yid" really a racial slur? This is, actually, kind of a serious question. It may be impolite, or crude; but it doesn't "feel" to me as if it rises to the level of the "n" word, or any of its derivatives. Am I way out of line on this one?

This does not surprise me. Try the dictionary. It is a racial slur just as bad a nigger. The little Gook was POd and let her inner ..... out.

Rufus: Is calling someone a "yid" really a racial slur? This is, actually, kind of a serious question. It may be impolite, or crude; but it doesn't "feel" to me as if it rises to the level of the "n" word, or any of its derivatives. Am I way out of line on this one?

"but it doesn't "feel" to me " well you aint a Jew sparkie are you?

Might i suggest that old adage? Maybe if you used your mouth less and your ears more you might LEARN something...

Teresita RedingerFri Dec 06, 05:32:00 PM ESTIf it's a racial slur, than Judaism is a race. And if Judaism is a race, then the policies of Israel elevating Judaism to a protected political status over non-Jews are racial apartheid.

O'REILLY: And we ran around and we caused trouble. And every -- and you know it was my reception was mixed. I mean some of the people really liked me but some of the people you know, they are kind of like you know what are you doing here? Don't ever come again. But I should have stocked up on moose chili. And nobody guided me into that.

PALIN: I'll bring you some next time.

O'REILLY: You have to because there's not a lot of moose on Long Island where I live. So it's either we can't really slay them and chop them up into chili.

PALIN: I don't think you can shoot anything. I mean isn't the mayor around here trying to ban everything?

O'REILLY: Well the bad guys can shoot people.

PALIN: Yes the bad guys --

O'REILLY: The good people can't. See, that's the law in New York. If you're bad, yes, go ahead and you can shoot. But if you're good you can't. But in Alaska everybody is armed and ready.

PALIN: Well, we're independent.

O'REILLY: That's right.

PALIN: And we want to protect ourselves and we do want to fill our freezer with organic meat.

Things seem to be proceeding at a dizzying rate. We are dancing not on the edge of a volcano, but on the wooden seat of a latrine, and it seems to me more than a touch rotten. Soon society will go plummeting down and drown in nineteen centuries of shit.

It is a wonderful and wonderfully done song if read metaphorically, internally, psychologically......

May this true most holy birth come to us all......

As Master Eckhardt, who was being kicked out of OUR LORD'S MOST HOLY CHURCH said on many occasions when still in the pulpit......

Another way of saying.......you must be bull to your own mother.....and be son or daughter of you own very higher self......but this is all just metaphor.......until you are six months gone with new Me.....

mourn 1. To feel or express grief or sorrow.2. To show grief for a death by conventional signs, as by wearing black clothes.To make a low, indistinct, mournful sound. To feel or express deep regret forTo grieve over (someone who has died).To utter sorrowfully.

Israeli leaders mourned the loss of former South African president Nelson Mandela, who died on Thursday evening. Prime minster Benjamin Netanyahu said Mandela was "the father of his nation, a man of vision, a freedom fighter who opposed violence. President Shimon Peres, who met the South African leader when he visited Israel in 1999, also eulogized Mandel

----------------

On the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, December 4. 1997, Mandela assembled a group “as South Africans, our Palestinian guests and as humanists to express our solidarity with the people of Palestine.” At the speech, he called for the metaphorical flames of solidarity, justice, and freedom to be kept burning.

“The UN took a strong stand against apartheid; and over the years, an international consensus was built, which helped to bring an end to this iniquitous system. But we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

• Four million Palestinians in the Occupied Territories lack the right to vote for the government that controls their lives through a military occupation.

In addition to controlling the borders, air space, water, tax revenues, and other vital matters pertaining to the Occupied Territories, Israel alone issues the identity cards that determine the ability of Palestinians to work and their freedom of movement.

• About 1.2 million Palestinian Israelis, who make up 20 percent, or one-fifth, of Israel’s population, have second-class citizenship within Israel, ... ... which defines itself as a Jewish state rather than a state for all its citizens.

More than 20 provisions of Israel’s principal laws discriminate, either directly or indirectly, against non-Jews, according to Adalah: The Legal Center for Minority Rights in Israel.

Millions of Palestinians remain refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and elsewhere, unable to return to their former homes ...... and land in present-day Israel.

Even though the right of return for refugees is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Niece hasn't responded to request of true information on treatment of Hindus in this great new nation yet.....will report if/when she does......she's working on blindness research.....hasn't much time for else.....

Deuce, a serious (to me in a mild way) blog question.......why do you allow rat to keep posting in my name?......why do you allow that?.......I am trying to get my lazy daughter to set me up with a new google.....we are over sixty miles apart now......it may take some time......is there anything you can do about it till then?.......

I believe you had Ash attempt to walk you through the process. There is no way for me to monitor every post. Today, Jenny said someone posted in her name. I have no way of knowing who unless i am willing to commit a lot of time. I am not going to do that.

I can sympathize with you Deuce. Normally, one could assume that it was strictly the rat being the rat, i.e. and asshole being an asshole. However, since Jenny suffered the same problem as Anonymous-Bob, there could be any of a number of assholes involved.

It took an asshole to break allen's composure, the remark about there being a "Plan" to dismantle the Israeli nuclear arsenal sent him over the top. On top of the normal chaos of conflict, in the 'fog of war' our Fünfte Kolonne von Teamleitern broke his 'cover'.

“Howard Hughes was able to afford the luxury of madness, like a man who not only thinks he is Napoleon but hires an army to prove it.” ― Ted Morgan

Why hire an army when the Hegemony of Character is available, for free.

Henric Ştefan Streitman was a Romanian Jew, a journalist, translator and political figure, who traversed the political spectrum from socialism to the far right. He was a physicist, social commentator and publisher, known for both his polemical stances and his erudition.Streitman turned to Nazi collaborationism during World War II, becoming president of the Central Jewish Office.

From the Congressional Budget Office (CBO): Monthly Budget Review for November 2013

The federal government ran a budget deficit of $231 billion for the first two months of fiscal year 2014, $61 billion less than the shortfall recorded in October and November of last year, CBO estimates. ... Receipts for the first two months of fiscal year 2014 totaled $380 billion, CBO estimates—$34 billion more than receipts during the same period last year.

... Outlays for the first two months of fiscal year 2014 were $27 billion less than they were during the same period last year, CBO estimates. That decrease would have been slightly larger if not for shifts in the timing of certain payments from December to November (because December 1 fell on a weekend in both years). Without those timing shifts, CBO estimates, spending would have declined by $29 billion (or 5 percent).The most recent CBO projection put the fiscal 2014 deficit at 3.3% of GDP, down from 4.1% in fiscal 2013. These monthly deficits suggest even more improvement in fiscal 2014 than originally forecast.Read more at http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/#ueczdEW86PA0IQHW.99

I don't know shit about computers, Ruf, but if you go to the Windows button and click on it, you can go to the "Search programs and Files" area at the bottom, type in 'clean' and a list of functions will show up under 'Disk Cleanup'.

I hopped on a PC. The following is for Internet Explorer. I'm sure there are equivalents in Firefox and Chrome. It is F12 but it may not work depending on (if you have it on your keyboard) where the "f Lock" is toggled to. Another way into it is to go to "tools" and select "developer tools" which shows the F12 shortcut beside it. Once in developer tools you will see a bunch of menu items up top. It is "cache" that you want. Under the menu items for "cache" you find "clear session cookies" and "clear browser cache". Clearing those items used to allow you to reset, for example, your free number of articles at NYTimes. I'm not sure if they've cleaned up that work around though.

The word Yid (/ˈjiːd/; Yiddish: ייִד)[clarification needed] is a slang Jewish ethnonym of Yiddish origin. Its usage may be controversial in modern English language. It is not usually considered offensive when pronounced /ˈjiːd/ (rhyming with deed), the way Yiddish speakers say it, though some may deem the word offensive nonetheless. When pronounced /ˈjɪd/ (rhyming with did), some have perceived it as pejorative — and has been used as a derogatory epithet by antisemites along with, and as an alternative to, the English word 'Jew'.[1]

Supporters of the English football club Tottenham Hotspur F.C. adopted the nickname "Yid" (or "Yiddo") and often identify as "Yid Army" - as a direct response to opposition fans originally using the word against them as a form of taunting and abuse. "Yid" is used as a badge of pride by the supporters of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., both those that are Jewish and non-Jewish. Such usage is controversial, and in 2013 has been addressed by the UK Society for Black Lawyers (an equality lobby group), as well as the British Prime Minister.[2]

The attempt to make Nelson Mandela respectable is an ongoing effort of Western government spokesmen and the Western media. He wasn’t respectable in the business circles of twentieth-century New York or Atlanta,…

The attempt to make Nelson Mandela respectable is an ongoing effort of Western government spokesmen and the Western media.He wasn’t respectable in the business circles of twentieth-century New York or Atlanta, or inside the Beltway of Washington, D.C. He wasn’t respectable for many of the allies of the United States in the Cold War, including Britain and Israel.

I visited Soweto in 2012 and went to Mandela’s old house. It was a moving experience. I don’t want him to be reduced to a commercialized icon on this day of all days.

We should remember that for much of the West in the Cold War, South Africa’s thriving capitalist economy was what was important. Its resources were important. Its government, solely staffed by Afrikaners and solely for Afrikaners, was seen as a counter-weight to Soviet and Communist influence in Africa. Washington in the 1980s obsessed about Cuba’s relationship to Angola (yes).

That the Afrikaners treated black Africans like dirt and discriminated against them viciously, denying them the franchise or any hint of equality, was considered in Western capitals at most an unfortunate idiosyncrasy that could not be allowed to interfere with the West’s dependence on Pretoria in fighting the international Left.

The African National Congress had attempted nonviolent protest in the 1950s, but the white Afrikaaner government outlawed all those techniques and replied with deadly force. In the early 1960s when Nelson Mandela turned to sabotage, the United States was a nakedly capitalist country engaged in an attempt to ensure that peasants and workers did not come to power. It was a deeply racist society that practiced Apartheid, a.k.a. Jim Crow in its own South.

The US considered the African National Congress to be a form of Communism, and sided with the racist Prime Ministers Hendrik Verwoerd and P.W. Botha against Mandela.

Decades later, in the 1980s, the United States was still supporting the white Apartheid government of South Africa, where a tiny minority of Afrikaaners dominated the economy and refused to allow black Africans to shop in their shops or fraternize with them, though they were happy to employ them in the mines. Ronald Reagan declared Nelson Mandela, then still in jail, a terrorist, and the US did not get around to removing him from the list until 2008! Reagan, while delivering pro forma denunciations of Apartheid or enforced black separation and subjugation, nevertheless opposed sanctions with teeth on Pretoria. Reagan let the racist authoritarian P.W. Botha come to Washington and met with him.

{...}Likewise British PM Margaret Thatcher befriended Botha and castigated Mandela’s ANC as terrorists. As if the Afrikaners weren’t terrorizing the black majority! She may have suggested to Botha that he release Mandela for PR purposes, but there is not any doubt on whose side she stood.

The Israeli government had extremely warm relations with Apartheid South Africa, to the point where Tel Aviv offered the Afrikaners a nuclear weapon (presumably for brandishing at the leftist states of black Africa). That the Israelis accuse Iran of being a nuclear proliferator is actually hilarious if you know the history. Iran doesn’t appear ever to have attempted to construct a nuclear weapon, whereas Israel has hundreds and seems entirely willing to share.

In the US, the vehemently anti-Palestinian Anti-Defamation League in San Francisco spied on American anti-Apartheid activists on behalf of the Apartheid state. If the ADL ever calls you a racist, you can revel in the irony.

{...}Ronald Reagan imagined that there were “moderates” in the Botha government. There weren’t. He wanted “constructive engagement” with them. It failed. The Afrikaners imposed martial law. Reagan tried to veto Congressional sanctions on Pretoria in 1986 but Congress over-rode him.

Nelson Mandela was a socialist who believed in the ideal of economic equality or at least of a decent life for everyone in society. He was also a believer in parliamentary government. So, he was a democratic socialist.

The current Republican Party is implementing Apartheid policies of making it difficult for minorities to exercise their right to vote. And they are changing tax laws to throw ever more of society’s wealth to the top 1%. And they just threw millions of Americans off food stamps, including children and Veterans. The US House of Representatives still stands against everything Mandela stood for.

President Obama first became interested in politics at Occidental College in California and attended anti-Apartheid demonstrations. It was then that fellow activists informed him that Barack would be a better name for such an activist than “Barry.” In many ways Mandela’s cause started Obama on his path to the White House.

In the meantime the UK also has a right wing government that is punishing students and the poor on behalf of the rich. And the Likud Foreign Minister in Israel, Avigdor Lieberman, wants to take away the citizenship of Palestinian-Israelis (20% of the population) just as the Afrikaners took citizenship away from blacks and pushed them into Bantustans. Mandela said, ““We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

The world will celebrate Nelson Mandela. But for most of those global leaders, it is only lip service. With the partial exception of President Obama, they don’t share his actual ideals and wouldn’t approve of him when he was at his most active, in the early 1960s, trying to figure out how to sabotage the Afrikaner establishment. (I say partial in Obama’s case because obviously he admires the struggle against Apartheid, but on economic issues he is an Eisenhower Republican and Mandela wouldn’t approve). In the 1990s on his release from prison Mandela did stand out for his belief in peace and reconciliation. But that was only because the Afrikaners had lost and he could afford to be magnanimous in victory. He was not a pacifist. He did not believe in taking lives as part of his struggle, but he was willing to resort to violence. He was not a capitalist. He wanted uplift for the workers. He could not overlook racism the way Reagan, Thatcher and Shamir did.

South Africa itself, for all its economic and social dynamism, has also not fully attained Mandela’s ideals. Its poor are becoming worse off. Labor relations are roiled. And the ANC leadership is in disarray.

Mandela is not a birthday cake to be celebrated. The funeral with its hypocritical heads of state won’t honor him. He is a pioneer to be emulated. We honor him by standing up for justice even in the face of enormous opposition from the rich and powerful, by taking risks for high ideals. We won’t meet his standards. But if all of us tried, we’d make the world better. As he did.

Hegelians are taught to use any stupid argument at their disposal that enrages their assigned opposite "side," their job is to fuel established conflicts and say anything they want, as long as it keeps the masses distracted.

When King David was on his death bed, cold as ice, they brought Abishag, the most beautiful young women in all Israel, body and eyes of pure life, and placed her in his death bed, to try and warm old David up.

It is never too soon to confront bigotry and racism whenever, wherever, and in whatever form it raises its ugly head. It is incumbent upon all people to confront even the slightest hint of racist thought or action with zero tolerance.” ― Hans J. Massaquoi, Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany

Magnificent Ronald and the Founding Fathers of al Qaeda

“These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America’s founding fathers.” — Ronald Reagan while introducing the Mujahideen leaders to media on the White house lawns (1985). During Reagan’s 8 years in power, the CIA secretly sent billions of dollars of military aid to the mujahedeen in Afghanistan in a US-supported jihad against the Soviet Union. We repeated the insanity with ISIS against Syria.